- Snapchat's latest original is a fashion-based reality show which will feature two aspiring stylists competing against one another to craft the perfect look.
Thumb Candy
Media - The show will be hosted and judged by celebrity stylist Sophie Lopez, the stylist for actress Kate Hudson
- "Nail The Look" is being produced by Thumb Candy Media, a newly formed digital division of television production company B17 Entertainment.
As Snapchat looks to grow its stable of original series, it has set its sights on beauty and fashion content.
The platform's latest original will feature two aspiring stylists competing against one another to style the perfect look based on a given theme. The reality series will be hosted by celebrity stylist Sophie Lopez (the stylist for actress Kate Hudson among others), who will critique their final looks, offer tips on what styles to buy as well as how to wear them.
"Nail The Look" premieres on Snapchat Discover tomorrow on September 7, coinciding with the start of New York Fashion Week. The show will air every Thursday for the next eight weeks, with stylists putting together outfits based on a new theme every episode, from a job interview to an outdoor music festival.
The first episode will see two aspiring stylists attempt to come up with the perfect streetwear look for New York Fashion Week.
"Nail The Look" is being produced by Thumb Candy Media, a newly formed digital division of television production company B17 Entertainment. Thumb Candy is being led by B17 principals and veteran TV producers Rhett Bachner and Brien Meagher, who have served as producers for a variety of popular shows including ABC's Emmy-nominated "Shark Tank" and AMC's "The Pitch," among others.
"Snapchat understood the power of mobile from a programming perspective and was willing to take chances on a variety of content and formats," Bachner told Business Insider. "We're firm believers in the platform."
"As producers, we go where the eyeballs are," added Meagher. "And right now, all eyeballs are on Snapchat."
"Nail The Look" is Snap's latest bid to become a destination for exclusive shows, with the company planning to have as many as three shows airing per day on Snapchat Discover by the end of the year. In recent months, Snap has announced deals with a number of leading TV networks and entertainment studios to develop and produce shows exclusively for Snapchat.
Snapchat's efforts seem to be striking a chord. Shows have an especially strong reach with younger users on average, with 75% of daily viewers between the ages of 13-24, according to the company. Further, originals are also seeing significant growth in viewership, the company said. NBC's "The Voice" on Snapchat, for example, has grown 45% in viewership in its second season.
While Snap hasn't explicitly specified a bent toward nonfiction programming, news and reality TV genres seem to have been an ongoing focus for the company compared to scripted shows, at least for now. In addition to "Nail The Look," the platform also has a makeover show in the works, Business Insider has learned.
"It's not a surprise that Snap is focusing on reality content, given the fact that its core audience has grown up with it," said Tom Buontempo, president at social agency Attention. "And there are inherent speed and cost efficiencies compared to scripted content."
Further, reality and unscripted content just makes business sense, since it often revolves around news and current events, which are inherently "social" by design, he added.
"It encourages frequent tuning in," said Buontempo. "You can also see the opportunities to build packages around cultural moments and marry it with live programming, while capturing the earmarked ad revenue along the way."
Thumb Candy is one of the first independent production companies tapped by Snap to produce original Shows Discover. B17 and partner Core Media Group are working to develop and produce additional shows for Snap's mobile-first audience, and have assembled a staff of 12 video and graphic artists as well purchased equipment specifically to support, record and edit vertical video.
"It's an unlearning process from how you approach traditional TV production, you really have to rethink your practices for mobile," said Bachner. "The mobile viewer is looking for storytelling that is less filtered and less produced, but from a photography or graphic standpoint, we still need to push stylistic boundaries."
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